CCE IN THE NEWS

Source: News 12 Long Island

EPA expands cleanup plan for Garden City Superfund site

The Environmental Protection Agency is expanding the cleanup at a Superfund site in Garden City after chemicals were found in the groundwater.

Roosevelt Field is now one of the Island's busiest shopping malls. But from 1911 to 1951 it was a hub for the aviation industry, including the U.S. Army and Navy. Contamination was first found in groundwater near the site in the late 1970s.

The area became a federal Superfund site in 2000, and the EPA finalized a plan a decade ago to clean up the western portion of the site. But six years ago, the EPA found an additional contaminated area south of Old Country Road and a few blocks east of Clinton Road. Now, the EPA has come up with a plan to rid that eastern area of the contaminants known as TCE and PCE.

Environmentalist Adrienne Esposito says the cleanup plan is long overdue.

“Both of these chemicals are really toxic and they're known to cause damage to the central nervous system and the liver and kidney,” says Esposito. “It can't happen soon enough, the longer we delay, the more the chemicals spread, the more the groundwater is at risk, the more the public health is at risk.”

The EPA's plan consists of installing a groundwater extraction well and a treatment plant near Garden and Grove streets in Garden City. The estimated cost is more than $13 million.

A spokesman for the EPA says the cleanup process is a complex one that involves a remedial investigation and a feasibility study before getting to this point.